Board considers changing names of 3 elementary schools

St. Landry Parish School Board members are considering changing the names of three district schools that educate students in elementary and junior high grades.

Board members have discussed changing the names of Plaisance, Arnaudville and Sunset elementary schools since the start of June after some board members proposed changing the name of South Street Elementary, which will educate students in fifth and sixth grades next school year.

Board members will consider the matter further July 11 when the entire board votes to approve the June Executive Committee report.

Renaming South Street Elementary may have already been decided. A Personnel Committee report issued last week indicates South Street Elementary will now be called Opelousas Middle.

Board member Raymond Cassimere, whose election district includes Plaisance Elementary, wants Plaisance, Arnaudville and Sunset elementary schools to be renamed as middle schools.

Cassimere, who once coached football at Plaisance Elementary, said students receive a sense of satisfaction when they leave the elementary grades and are promoted to middle and junior high school.

“I just attended a graduation for one of my grandchildren and there was great excitement about moving on and accomplishing a new phase of education,” Cassimere said. “My point is that changing these names of schools is not about me. It’s what’s right for children. That’s my only rationale.”

Josh Boudreaux, another board member who represents the Arnaudville area, said he would like to wait until the board is presented with a district-wide reorganization plan for schools outside of the Opelousas area.

Boudreaux said the South Street Elementary situation was a result of the board’s decision to close Southwest and North elementary schools in Opelousas and move all the city’s fifth- and sixth-grade public school students to South Street.

“I don’t think it’s right for (the board) to rename schools whose situations haven’t been approached as of yet,” Boudreaux said. “It’s more than premature to talk about names when we don’t know what (Arnaudville) might actually become.”

Boudreaux said Arnaudville principal Mary Miller “has no problem” with allowing the school to remain as Arnaudville Elementary for now.

Board member Hazel Sias said she’s had phone calls that indicate there are individuals who prefer to change the names of Plaisance and Sunset to either middle or junior high schools.

“Our superintendent (Patrick Jenkins) informed people to call a board member about changing these names,” Sias said.

Personnel Committee chairman Denise Rose said the public should continue to influence the board’s eventual decision on whether to change the names.

“If any person or school objects, then they should bring that objection before the full board,” Rose said.